Texistepeque is a city and

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the

Santa Ana department Santa Ana () is a department of El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific O ...

of western

El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...

. It lies in the center of the department, north of Santa Ana and south of

Metapán Metapán is a city and municipality in the Santa Ana department of El Salvador. Metapán is situated in the northern part of the department, bordering Honduras and Guatemala. It is the second largest city in the department after Santa Ana and ...

. It was founded by the Poqomam

Maya peoples Maya () are an ethnolinguistic group of Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica. The ancient Maya civilization was formed by members of this group, and today's Maya are generally descended from people who lived w ...

and conquered by the

Pipil people The Pipil are an Indigenous group of Mesoamerican people inhabiting the western and central areas of present-day El Salvador and Nicaragua. They are a subgroup of the larger Nahua ethnic group. They speak the Nawat language, which is a closel ...

Cuzcatlan Cuzcatlan (; ) was a pre-Columbian Nahua state confederation of the Mesoamerican postclassical period that extended from the Paz river to the Lempa river (covering most of western El Salvador); this was the nation that ...

until the Spanish conquest. The meaning of its name comes from Pipil

Nawat language Nawat (academically Pipil, also known as Nahuat) is a Nahuan language native to Central America. It is the southernmost extant member of the Uto-Aztecan family. Before Spanish colonization it was spoken in several parts of present-day Central ...

and means ''place of eggs'' or alternatively ''mountain of eggs''; from Nawat ''teksis (eggs),'' and ''tepec or tepet (mountain)'' which indicates a place name.

History

The area around Texistepeque was originally populated by the Poqomam Maya and later fell under the dominion of the lords of

until the

Spanish conquest of El Salvador The Spanish conquest of El Salvador was the campaign undertaken by the Spanish ''conquistadores'' against the Late Postclassic Mesoamerican polities in the territory that is now incorporated into the modern Central American country of El Salvado ...

in the early 16th century. After El Salvador gained its independence from Spain in 1821, it formed part of the

Sonsonate Department Sonsonate () is a department of El Salvador in the western part of the country. The capital is Sonsonate. The department has an area of 1,226 km². Created on June 12, 1824, the El Salvador National Parliament decided on January 29, 1859 ...

until that department was split between the newly formed Santa Ana department in 1855.

Church of Texistepeque

The church is located in the city of the same name. It is located on the highway towards

, 17 kilometers north of Santa Ana. It is not known who built it, but its edification probably dates back to the 18th century. Its style is Baroque, with an altarpiece facade, divided in three bodies and decorated by half columns and semi-arched niches. The españada is finished off by scrolls and pinnacles, and crowned by a kind of tabernacle that houses a clock. The steeples are embedded on the facade and they are of a later construction. The lateral facades have supporting columns and are decorated with entablature. The current roof is of Iron sheets, but previously, it was built with wood and tiles. The interior of the church is a wing containing ten wooden columns of a single trunk with stone bases almost 80 centimeters in height. Inside the church, the roof is wooden and the suspenders are what is conserved of the coffered Mudejar. There are parochial registrations from the 18th century and data in the General Registration of Central America that say: “the community of the town of San Esteban-Texistepeque requests funds to finish the reconstruction of the town (year 1743)”. In 1755, they were given the fourth part of the tributes paid for the reconstruction of the temple.

Culture

The patron saint of Texistepeque is Saint Stephen and

festivals A festival is an event celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, Melā, mela, or Muslim holidays, eid. A ...

honoring this saint, are held from December 17 to December 27. Along with Saint Stephen, the virgin of Belen-Güijat is also celebrated. The town is famous for its ''Talcigüines'', whip-bearing locals who, dressed as demons, whip residents on the streets at the beginning of Holy Week. This tradition reflects a mestizo origin of the city's people and culture, containing both Catholic Hispanic and Indigenous influences. The local professional football club is named C.D. Titán and it currently plays in the Salvadoran Second Division.

Administration

The total population of the municipality is 17,923 inhabitants. The incumbent mayor or a''lcalde'' as of 2018 is José Dimas Aguilar Mejía of the

National Coalition Party (El Salvador) The National Coalition Party (, PCN) is a nationalist political party in El Salvador. Until 2011 it was known as the National Conciliation Party (, PCN). It was the most powerful political party in the country during the 1960s and 1970s, and w ...

. The municipality consists of six subdivisions called ''Cantones''''.'' The six ''Cantones'' are'':'' * Canton Costa Rica * Canton Cujucuyo * Canton Chilcuyo * Canton El Jute * Canton San Miguel * Canton Santo Tomás The municipality is served by the Parish of San Esteban, Texistepeque.

Geography

Texistepeque lies at 405 meters above sea level and has a territory of 178.97 km². The

Lempa River The Lempa River () is a river in Central America. It is a transboundary river shared by El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. Geography Its sources are located in between the Sierra Madre and the Sierra del Merendón mountain ranges in southern ...

passes through the eastern edge of the municipality and serves as a border between it and the

Chalatenango Department Chalatenango () is a department of El Salvador located in the northwest of the country. The department's capital city is the city of Chalatenango, which shares the same name as the department. Chalatenango covers a land area of and contains ...

References

{{Santa Ana Department Municipalities of the Santa Ana Department